Creating a trusted research environment 

North Yorkshire Council was awarded funding by NIHR in January 2024 to form the Health Determinants Research Collaboration North Yorkshire (HDRC NY). Working alongside University of Hull and University of York, North Yorkshire Council aims to boost research capacity and skills, and to use research to identify and address issues affecting the health of the people of North Yorkshire.  

North Yorkshire Council created a trusted research environment to explore ways to collaborate on research with other partners whilst keeping data safe. Following conversations with University of Hull, it was agreed that creating a trusted research environment would be the best way to facilitate this collaboration.  

Trusted research environments are secure online spaces where approved users from the same or different organisations can upload and work on data together. Through the HDRC, it was agreed that North Yorkshire Council would access a trusted research environment managed by University of Hull. Using this, it would be possible to:  

• link different data sources, including big data sets 

• work with data securely, as the data never leaves the trusted research environment, and only pre-authorised individuals can access it 

• record all activity and changes made to the data whilst in the trusted research environment, allowing transparency

• have complete assurance that control is maintained over sensitive and or identifiable data and there are no copies of the data anywhere other than in the trusted research environment 

• meet the security and information governance requirements of other data providers in health and social care settings, allowing local authority data to be linked

HDRC NY hoped to achieve 3 things through the trusted research environment: 

1. To create a secure space for academic colleagues to access council data and undertake analysis of this data

2. To use the trusted research environment as a space to bring in external data from other sources and use this data alongside council protected data sets 

3. To act as a secure way for council colleagues from different directorates to work on council data to create new insights and understanding 

Before starting work on the trusted research environment, it was essential to gain support from the relevant teams within the council and to establish a shared understanding of the potential benefit of sharing data in this way. Initial conversations covered the cyber security arrangements of the Trusted Research Environment and of all the steps to submit and process data. The necessary documentation and checks were completed for the use of the platform, and this was reviewed by the relevant teams. This highlighted the ways in which data would be kept safe, namely: 

• Only pre-approved users would have access to the data

• All users of the environment would need to complete the NHS Data Security Awareness training 

• Every project would have a data sharing agreement and data protection impact assessment with detail of how that data would be protected 

• All changes and movements of data within the environment are logged so there is a complete audit trail

• It would not be possible to copy and paste from the trusted research environment or to remove data without using the protected systems  

Ambitions for the trusted data environment

The Trusted Research Environment has the potential to enable collaborative, secure data analysis that will better enable the determinants of health to be addressed in areas such as Preventive services, coastal and rural community health, housing, and climate change. 

Learning from setting up the Trusted Research Environment: 

North Yorkshire Council officers have gained significant learning through this process and offer the following advice to other local authorities considering setting up something similar:  

• Be clear about what you want to do with data – for North Yorkshire Council, it was a priority to have ownership of a protected space to work on data and to have a space that facilitated collaboration with university colleagues. This was why a Trusted Research Environment was identified as the best solution.  

• Allow time – there have been several technical challenges to overcome to allow council officers access to the Trusted Research Environment, including applying for special permissions to access platforms and forms of software. It is recommended that you map out the whole process and all the software needed from start to finish so it is possible to identify all the steps that will be required. 

• Identify dedicated staff capacity – considerable staff time has gone into setting up processes for the Trusted Data Environment and testing these. 

Creating the Trusted Research Environment has required effective collaboration both internally within the Council and externally with University of Hull. This has been essential to progressing this work, meeting Information Governance requirements of both organisations and keeping sensitive data secure.  

“The TRE will provide us with a great opportunity to bring together data from across the system in a safe way, to help the local authority better understand and address health inequalities. Working collaboratively with the University of Hull has made this possible.” Katie Needham, HDRC Director, North Yorkshire Council 

“Working collaboratively on research with North Yorkshire Council is central to the University’s strategic goal of ensuring our research responds to regional and national challenges. The Trusted Research Environment and Council colleagues’ commitment to collaborative research is enabling us to make better use of data to positively address the determinants of health.” Professor Mark Pearson, Academic Lead from University of Hull 

If you want to get in touch with HDRC NY contact them via email at: hdrc@northyorks.gov.uk 

This learning story was prepared with support from NIHR RSS Specialist Centre for Public Health delivered by Newcastle University and Partners. With thanks to HDRC North Yorkshire for providing the content.